International Standard (ISO) 14229-1, first edition 2006 Dec. 1, corrected version 2007 Apr. 15, entitled Road vehicles—Unified diagnostic services (UDS)—Part 1: Specification and requirements, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, specifies data link independent requirements of diagnostic services that allow a diagnostic tester (client) to control diagnostic functions in an on-vehicle Electronic Control Unit (server), such as but not necessarily limited to a heads-up display (HUD), a power control module (PCM), an electronic fuel injection, automatic gear box, anti-lock braking system or other module connected on a serial data link embedded in a road vehicle. International Standard (ISO) 15765-3, first edition 2004 Oct. 15, entitled Road vehicles—Diagnostics on Controller Area Networks (CAN)—Part 3: Implementation of unified diagnostic services (UDS on CAN), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, has been established in order to enable the implementation of unified diagnostic services, as specified in ISO 14229-1, on controller area networks (UDS on CAN).
One of the diagnostic services associated with the aforementioned standards relates to a DiagnosticSessionControl service having a programmingSession subfunction for enabling operations to support memory programming of a server. The programmingSession subfunction can be engaged with a client to facilitate replacing and/or updating files or other memory constructs of the server, such as to facilitate changing parameters of an HUD, varying engine timing or other parameters associated with an engine control module (ECM) and to perform virtually any type of operational alteration to the various modules and systems operating within a road vehicle. The updating of such servers, particularly by unauthorized individuals or non-original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), can have problematic effects on the corresponding servers, e.g., changing timing parameters of the ECM may cause the engine to perform inadequately. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates preventing and/or ameliorating the effects associated with the unauthorized use of the programmingSession or other similar processes compliant with other standards and protocols having capabilities sufficient to facilitate updating servers included on a road vehicle or other vehicle/device.